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Saturday, July 26th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

New American Standard Bible (1995)

Judges 15:16

Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ass (Donkey);   Lehi;   Samson;   Scofield Reference Index - Miracles;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Philistines, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Lehi;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Ramath-Lehi;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Etam;   Shamgar;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Music, Instruments, Dancing;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ass;   Israel;   Levi;   Marriage;   Philistines;   Samson;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Lehi ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Makaz;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ass;   Heap;   Number;   Samson;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Alliteration and Kindred Figures;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then Samson said:
Hebrew Names Version
Shimshon said, With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.
King James Version
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
Lexham English Bible
And Samson said, "With the jawbone of the donkey, heap upon heap; with the jawbone of the donkey, I struck dead one thousand men."
English Standard Version
And Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men."
New Century Version
Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I made donkeys out of them. With a donkey's jawbone I killed a thousand men!"
New English Translation
Samson then said, "With the jawbone of a donkey I have left them in heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men!"
Amplified Bible
Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men."
New American Standard Bible
And Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Samson sayd, With the iaw of an asse are heapes vpon heapes: with the iawe of an asse haue I slaine a thousand men.
Legacy Standard Bible
These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of their own benefit.
Contemporary English Version
After the fighting was over, he made up this poem about what he had done to the Philistines: I used a donkey's jawbone to kill a thousand men; I beat them with this jawbone over and over again.
Complete Jewish Bible
Shimshon said, "With the jawbone of a donkey I left heaps piled on heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men!"
Darby Translation
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone, I killed 1000 men! With a donkey's jawbone, I piled them into a tall pile."
George Lamsa Translation
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass I have made heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass I have slain a thousand men.
Good News Translation
So Samson sang, "With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men; With the jawbone of a donkey I piled them up in piles."
Literal Translation
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, with the jawbone of an ass I have killed a thousand men.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Samson sayde: With an olde asses cheke bone, yee eue with the cheke bone of an asse haue I slayne a thousande men.
American Standard Version
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.
Bible in Basic English
And Samson said, With a red ass's mouth-bone I have made them red with blood, with a red ass's mouth-bone I have sent destruction on a thousand men.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Samson sayde: With the iawe of an Asse, heapes vpon heapes: with the iawe of an Asse haue I slayne a thousande men.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.
King James Version (1611)
And Samson said, With the iawbone of an asse, heapes vpon heapes, with the iaw of an asse haue I slaine a thousand men.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Sampson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass I have utterly destroyed them, for with the jaw-bone of an ass I have smitten a thousand men.
English Revised Version
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.
Berean Standard Bible
Then Samson said: "With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
With the cheke of an asse, that is, with the lowere cheke of a colt of femal assis, Y dide hem awey, and Y killide a thousynde men.
Young's Literal Translation
And Samson saith, `With a jaw-bone of the ass -- an ass upon asses -- with a jaw-bone of the ass I have smitten a thousand men.'
Update Bible Version
And Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, I have thrashed them good, With the jawbone of a donkey I have smitten a thousand men.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
World English Bible
Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.
New King James Version
Then Samson said: "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men!"
New Living Translation
Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, I've piled them in heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey, I've killed a thousand men!"
New Life Bible
Then Samson said, "With the bone of a donkey there are bodies upon bodies. With the bone of a donkey I have killed 1,000 men."
New Revised Standard
And Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, - have I piled them up in heaps! With the jawbone of an ass, have I smitten a thousand men!
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses, I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men.
Revised Standard Version
And Samson said, "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men."

Contextual Overview

9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" And they said, "We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us." 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them." 12 They said to him, "We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me." 13 So they said to him, "No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you." Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men." 17 When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

with the jawbone: There is here a fine paronomasia upon the word chamor, "an ass," which also signifies "a heap;" bilchee hachamor, chamor chamorathayim, "With the jaw-bone of an ass, a heap upon two heaps."

heaps upon heaps: Heb. an heap, two heaps, Judges 15:16

Reciprocal: Judges 16:24 - which slew many of us 1 Samuel 17:40 - staff 1 Corinthians 1:25 - the foolishness

Cross-References

Genesis 15:5
And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
Genesis 15:8
He said, "O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?"
Genesis 15:9
So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
Genesis 15:11
The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
Exodus 12:40
Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
1 Kings 21:26
He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel.
Daniel 8:23
"In the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue.
1 Thessalonians 2:16
hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Samson said,.... In a kind of triumphant song:

with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps; that is, with such an instrument he had slain heaps of men, who lay dead in heaps upon one another; in the words for an "ass", and for an "heap", is an elegant "paronomosia", not easy to be expressed in our language:

with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men: this he said not in a proud and haughty manner, ascribing it to himself, as Josephus suggests m, since he takes notice of the mean instrument he used; which showed that he was sensible it was not done by his own power, but by the power of God, which enabled him by such weak means to do such wonderful things.

m Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

There is a play upon the word, three times repeated, which means both “an ass” and also “a heap.” The spirit of riddle-making Judges 14:12, Judges 14:18 is apparent in this song of triumph (compare Judges 5:1; Exodus 15:1; 1 Samuel 18:6-7).


 
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